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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  7. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  8. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  9. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  12. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  13. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. ball — a dance
  3. clip — to cut
  4. bear — to put up with
  5. degree — an amount
  6. toast — a drink to someone
  7. bear — the animal
  8. toast — bread
  9. ball — a round shape
  10. degree — temperature
  11. bear — the animal
  12. toast — the most admired
  13. ball — a great time
  14. clip — a video
  15. field — farmland
  16. field — for sport
  17. field — a subject
  18. clip — for paper

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com